Semiconductor devices have become a ubiquitous aspect of daily life. They are the fundamental building blocks upon which integrated circuit (“IC”) technologies are developed and brought to bear in the marketplace. Items such as computers, telecommunication systems, and even home entertainment systems, are built using semiconductor devices. Humans are becoming more and more depending upon IC technologies to increase their efficiencies in the workplace and enjoy home entertainment never before possible.
The aforementioned IC applications have relentlessly marched toward smaller and faster packages. In 1965, Gordon Moore made his famous observation that the number of transistors per IC would experience exponentially growth. Moore's Law has held true to this day, with logic densities doubling approximately every eighteen months.
However, as IC logic densities increase, heat creation and dissipation have become major obstacles to technological advances and the continued fulfillment of Moore's Law. To be sure, heat dissipation has become a major limiting factor to continued advancements in mobile processors (e.g., notebook computers).
Major sources of heat creation are the internal resistances within semiconductor devices and their interconnects. When current flows through a semiconductor device or interconnect having an associated resistance, heat is generated. An undesirable side effect of heat generation is the conversion of electrical and/or optical energy to heat, as well as, thermal-mechanical breakdown of the IC devices themselves. This undesirable conversion results in power loss and a degradation in operating efficiency and even a decrease in signal-to-noise ratio. At the extreme, a complete loss of signal may occur. As such, there is a need to reduce internal resistances associated with semiconductor devices and their interconnects.